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Trivia: Musical Terms

Subject : trivia
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Rapid alternation between notes that are a half tone or whole tone apart.






2. Short movement or interlude connecting the main parts of the composition.






3. A quick 20th century dance written in double time.






4. A musical composition written solely to improve technique. Often performed for artistic interest.






5. The playing or singing the upper half of the vocal range. Also the highest voice in choral singing.






6. A single line of music played or sung. A musical sentence.






7. A line in a contrapuntal work performed by an individual voice or instrument.






8. A musical form where the melody or tune is imitated by individual parts at regular intervals. The individual parts may enter at different measures and pitches. The tune may also be played at different speeds - backwards - or inverted.






9. A separate section of a larger composition.






10. A set of six musicians who perform a composition written for six parts.






11. A symbol indicating the note is to be raised by one semitone.






12. The flats and sharps at the beginning of each staff line indicating the key of music the piece is to be played.






13. A lighthearted piece - written in several movements - usually as background music for a social function.






14. The first tone of a scale also known as a keynote.






15. The unit of measure where the beats on the lines of the staff are divided up into two - three - four beats to a measure.






16. The unit of musical rhythm.






17. The raising and lowering a pitch of an instrument to produce the correct tone of a note.






18. A chord comprised of three whole tones resulting in an augmented fourth or diminished fifth.






19. A set of four musicians who perform a composition written for four parts.






20. Time in music history ranging from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th centuries. Characterized by emotional - flowery music; written in strict form.






21. A group singing in unison.






22. A sequence of chords that brings an end to a phrase - either in the middle or the end of a composition.






23. One of the two modes of the tonal system. The minor mode can be identified by the dark - melancholic mood.






24. A glissando or portamento. Also refers to the moving part of a trombone.






25. Slow and stately dance music written in triple time.






26. A rhythmic succession of musical tones - a melody for instruments and voices.






27. A short piano piece - often improvisational and intimate in character.






28. A hymn sung by the choir and congregation often in unison.






29. The range of an instrumental or a vocal part.






30. Curved line connecting notes to be sung or played as a phrase.






31. An important characteristic of the Romantic period. It is a style where the strict tempo is temporarily abandoned for a more emotional tone.






32. Unmusical - without tone.






33. Word to indicate that the movement or entire composition is to be played grandly.






34. A symbol in sheet music a direction to play energetically.






35. A musical scale having five notes.For example: the five black keys of a keyboard make up a pentatonic scale.






36. The period of music history which dates from the mid 1700's to mid 1800's. The music was spare and emotionally reserved - especially when compared to Romantic and Boroque music.






37. Combination of two or more keys being played at the same time.






38. Music composed such that each note is used the same number of times.






39. A combination of two or more staves on which all the notes are vertically aligned and performed simultaneously in differing registers and instruments.






40. A song or hymn celebrating Christmas.






41. A repeated phrase.






42. Eight full tones above the key note where the scale begins and ends.






43. One or more vocalists performing without an accompaniment.






44. Two notes that differ in name only. The notes occupy the same position.For example: C sharp and D flat.






45. The technique of altering the tone color of a single note or musical line by changing from one instrument to another in the middle of a note or line.






46. Three note chords consisting of a root - third - and fifth.






47. A loose collection of instrumental compositions.






48. Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending.






49. A symbol in sheet music that returns a note to its original pitch after it has been augmented or diminished.






50. A dirge - hymn - or musical service for the repose of the dead.